"Nay; but since the Battle of Trafalgar, there can be no further dread of an invasion; and little was being done to check his progress on the Continent. But Mr. Fox flatly declined to let Sir John go to the Indies. He said England could not safely spare him."
"'Twas a marvellous beautiful diamond star that the officers of his regiment presented to him when he was made Knight," observed Molly. "I saw it last month, for the first time."
"And a fitter token of regard than brilliants could scarce have been chosen for one of his transcendent purity of character," declared Jack.
Molly's attention wandered slightly, and Jack scanned her with an air of brotherly criticism. He was very fond of Molly, and she of him. It seemed to him this evening that she was looking particularly nice and ladylike, or, in the phraseology of the day, "pleasing and genteel." She was not pretty. Jack did not wish her to be pretty. He liked her better as she was.
"And had Sir John gone out to India, you doubtless would have wished to go also, Jack?"
"Doubtless," Jack replied at once. "In which case you would have missed me, Molly? As much as you miss Roy?"
Molly laughed outright. "Jack!—Jack!—why, Jack! Roy is my twin. He is more to me than all the world beside. Never in my life shall I care for any other as I care for Roy."
Jack laughed in his turn derisively.
"Never, never, never!" repeated Molly. "O never! I love my father and my mother dearly, and I love Polly, and Denham is a brother to me. And I love my grandmother, And I—like you and Bob too. I like you both. But Roy—Roy—he is more than all!"
"That is vastly well, Molly. But wait till your time shall come—till somebody will be more to you than even Roy."